Ota Benga
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Ota Benga (c. 1883 – March 20, 1916) was a Congolese pygmy who was featured in a 1906 human zoo exhibit at New York City's Bronx Zoo. Benga came to the United States through the action of businessman and missionary Samuel Phillips Verner. Under contract from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Verner negotiated Benga's release from slave traders in 1904 following his capture by the Force Publique—which had also attacked his village, killing Benga's wife and two children.
Benga performed in an anthropology display at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition later in 1904. After nearly two years of travel, including a return trip to Africa, Verner arranged for Benga to live at the Bronx Zoo. Benga roamed freely on the grounds and was encouraged to interact with patrons; he later came to be "exhibited" in the zoo's Monkey House as part of a display intended to promote the concepts of human evolution and scientific racism.
Public outcry eventually led to Benga's removal from the zoo, and he was released into the custody of African American clergy. He lived in a local orphanage until he was relocated in 1910 to Lynchburg, Virginia. There he was groomed for the American way of life, dressing in Western-style clothing and attending primary school. When the outbreak of World War I made a return to the Congo impossible, Benga became depressed. In 1916, he committed suicide with a stolen shotgun.
